Authorities shut down yet another multi-million steel project
In 2016, Vietnam has seen the closing of numerous long-delayed steel projects invested by both foreign and domestic enterprises.
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Covering an area of 25.8 hectares in Vung Ang Economic Zone, the project is invested by Ha Tinh Iron Cast and Steel Company with a total investment capital of VND1.76 trillion ($77.5 million).
The investor planned to churn out the first batches of products in August 2010 as the first phase is finished. While construction was kicked off in June 2007, due to financial problems, it has been on standy-by since 2010.
The investor poured approximately VND1 trillion ($44.05 million) into the project, including the costs of importing machinery and equipment. However, with the project falling through, these items are just scrap iron at the moment.
In mid-2015, the Ha Tinh Economic Zone Management Authority was already considering revoking the investment certificate of the project.
In another move, in September, authorities of central province of Quang Ngai decided to revoke 337ha of land from Guang Lian Dung Quat steel factory.
The steel project received its investment license in 2006. It is located in Dung Quat Economic Zone, and received an initial investment capital of $556 million from Taiwanese Tycoons Group.
After many adjustments in scale and design capacity, in 2008 Tycoons entered into co-operation with E-United Company (also from Taiwan) to increase the project's capital to $4.5 billion and the annual capacity to 7 million tonnes of steel-5 million tonnes higher than its initial capacity.
In July 2015, Guang Lian notified provincial authorities that it could not secure funding for the project, stalling operations from mid-2014 to date. By September 2014, the investor had disbursed $42 million to the project and provincial authorities had advanced the company VND175 billion ($7.71 million) for land clearance.
In March 2016, following the committee’s inspection of the project site, the investor submitted another proposal with an investment of $2.2 billion. However, the committee decided to withdraw the land since the investor had violated the Land Law 2013.
Previously, in May, the Ninh Thuan People’s Committee revoke the investment certificate of Ca Na Industrial Zone, which was developing from the ashes of the inactive Ca Na steel manufacturing complex due to long delays in submitting dossiers for an investment certificate.
In September 2008, Vinashin-Lion Joint Venture Company Limited, a joint venture of state-owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and Malaysian Lion Group, was licensed to develop the $9.8 billion steel manufacturing complex. The construction was started in November 2008.
The investors promised to complete the first phase by 2011. However, the construction could not be implemented on schedule due to financial troubles, leading to Lion Group’s withdrawal from the project.
